Shadows
by Cordria
Summary: Danny may have saved his mother from the darkness, but can he save himself from the shadows that lurk around him? Part 2 of the Illuminations Saga.
1. Remember

_Into shadows the children will play, dancing and prancing their merry way._

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**Shadows  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

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Chapter 1: Remember

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The green dress flared as she sank to the floor. "Traiga mi destino en la **Luz**, fuera de **Sombras**, y poderes de **Oscuridad** vendrá," she mumbled softly under her breath. A long match appeared almost magically in her fingers. She twirled it in the air, continuing to whisper under her breath before striking it against the floor. It hissed to life. She brought the flaming match up to the candle's wick. Inches away from completing the ritual. "And the young hybrid's life…"

"Belongs to me," Danny interrupted. Reaching deep inside himself, his breath caught in his throat. Green eyes flared with renewed life, his pupils vanishing as his vision faded to an emerald-tinged world. From his painful crouch, he focused on the woman kneeling before him.

_My soul is mine_, he snarled to himself as he built up a huge charge of energy. He released it in sharp waves that radiated in every direction. As the ropes disintegrated around him, he gasped in pain. It felt like someone had thrust a red-hot poker through his stomach and starting ripping out pieces of his insides.

Panting slightly, he glared at the lady who had brought this on him. Locked him the dark. Threatened his life. Tried to take over the world. She seemed frozen, matchstick an inch away from the green candle's wick, her reddish eyes wide with surprise. Danny pushed himself to his feet, wavering slightly. The lack of food made his head spin dizzily.

"Phantom!" A female's voice echoed through the hall.

The boy wiped his head around, his electric eyes focusing on a woman wearing a dirty blue jumpsuit. She struggled against the large man holding her arms. _Mom... no…_

The sight caused a new wave of fear and anxiety that made the energy around him flare. Grimacing at the new level of pain that twisted into his stomach, he swiveled his head back to the lady in green. _It's her fault_, his mind whirled. _It's all her fault_.

_She threatened me. She threatened my family. She was going to kill my mother!_ Fury filling his mind, he brought his hand up, a fatal dose of ectoplasm sparkling between his fingertips. The flickering green energy cast her features in a jade glow, her red eyes becoming a much more human brown. Danny stared at her, watching her eyes fill with fear and terror.

_She's just a human_, a corner of his mind whispered. The bright glow faded just before it left his fingers, zapping the short distance between them and catching the lady in the shoulder. Her scream cut off as she collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Danny stared at her body, shaking in anger. _You deserve worse than this._

"Hey!"

Danny's head snapped around to one of the guards. A large, Hispanic man had his hand half-raised in the air, his eyes flickering between his boss and the young half-ghost. His hand reached for a gun, and Danny used the excuse to channel more energy into the next blast. The guard was thrown against the wall, his head making a sickening noise as it hit.

Pain stabbed through him, his body loudly protesting the use of energy that Danny simply did not have. Biting his lip, he funneled the agony into motion. Stumbling off the dais, trembling at the emotions and energy flooding through him, he raced towards his mother. The carefully arranged candlesticks scattered under his feet.

His legs started to give out. Clenching his teeth, Danny threw himself into the air, his flight uneven, his entire body throbbing with the effort. Jerking to an unsteady stop in front of his mother and the guard holding her down. "Let her go," he snapped. Waves of needles swarming through his body as he yanked more energy into being, forcing his hand to a deadly glow.

The guard's eyes widened. His hands went to his belt, scrambling for the gun.

Danny screamed in pure pain and anger and sent a blast of energy into the man's face. The man shrieked and stumbled backwards, collapsing in a writhing pile. Tearing his eyes away, Danny tried ignore the aching emptiness that was creeping into the very core of his body. He turned to his mother. "Go!" he panted, glancing into his mother's eyes, "Run! Get help!"

She was staring at him, eyes wide. When she didn't move, he raised his hand point the way out. "M…" he trailed off, staring at his fingers in surprise. He could see straight through his hand. Gazing at the back of his hand for a second, eyes focused on his mother's expression _through_ his hand. Her eyes weren't looking at him… they were looking _through_ him…

Danny spun around. The first guard clamored to his feet, a bloody hand clamped against his head. Watching the man, eyes wide, mind whirling, he snapped at his mother. "I can't hold them off for long." _If I can hold them off at all._ When his mother just continued to stand there, watching him. "Go!" he screamed.

She hesitated just one more second, reaching out and grabbing Danny's hand. He blinked, glancing down. It felt weird; her warm, solid hand against his. "Stay alive, we need to talk," she commanded.

Looking up, he met her eyes. A shiver of hot energy flickered through him and a grin slid onto his face. He nodded, then turned away from his mother.

Listening to her race out of the room, Danny watched the man stagger towards the gun glittering in the candlelight. He screamed, a wordless challenge full of terror, pain, and anger, and reached for the energy inside of him. A ball of ectoplasm swirled into existence slowly, dragging icy claws through his brain. Releasing the sphere as soon as it was fully formed, he collapsed to the floor.

Barely able to push himself to his hands and knees, he shut his eyes and let a groan slip through his clenched teeth. _I can see through my eyelids_, he wondered through the pain. His trembling arms finally buckled, sending him the rest of the way to the floor.

He curled up, his stomach twisting, his brain burning, every muscle shrieking in protest. _Is this-?_ A wave of stings blasted through him, sending his thoughts scattering like puzzle pieces. Everything vanished in a wave of pain except for one thought.

_Oh, please just let me die… let me die... let me die..._

"You thought you could win, hybrid?" a voice sneered in his ear.

Danny turned his head to peer upwards through the pain. It was the lady.

"I am better than you," she continued, seemingly oblivious to the hatred starting to glow in Danny's eyes. "You are disease; a blight on humanity. But a useful blight. You can't even stand, can you?" She laughed.

Her eyes were wild as she held out that green candle and set it between them. "**Luz**," she whispered, pulling out another match. Crazy light was glowing in her gaze. "**Sombras**." She struck the match against the floor. It sizzled to life. "**Oscuridad**." She touched the light to the candlewick.

The candle burst into light, the flame glowing a brilliant green. There was a beat of nothing happening, then Danny gathered his thoughts enough to mutter, "That's it? Your brother changed all of reality and all you do is light a candle?"

Her smirk was tinged with insanity as she leaned forwards, her nose inches from his. "Your life is mine now," she whispered. "Don't underestimate me."

Pulling a small walkie-talkie out of a pocket, she got to her feet. The flickering green candle sputtered. "Charlie. Rob." She waited, static crackling on the radio.

"Yup." A thick voice hissed through the tiny speaker.

"The creature's mother is headed your way. Stop her."

"You need her awake?" The man's voice was emotionless.

"The ceremony has started," she said with a laugh. "She doesn't need to be _alive_."

The voice crackled through the static. "Copy that."

_There were more than two guards!_ Danny's mind raced, horror sweeping through him. _No!_ He gasped in agony as he pushed himself to his hands and knees. _Mom!_

"Yes see, blight?" Jessica Oscura purred. "I win."

"No," he whispered. His eyes narrowed as he glared at her. "You can't win."

"Why not?" she laughed, turning her back on him.

Danny looked down at his almost completely transparent hands. The edges of his arms blended into the dark shadows marring the floor. _Can I do this? _His eyes closed, an image of his mother being brought back here, her throat being cut, dying… _I have to._ His fingers curled into fists, his fingernails dragging across the stone floor. _And I will._

A snarl transformed his face. "Because I said so." Energy swirled around him, yanking at his body as it zapped and sizzled in the air. Biting back a howl at the pain, he formed the energy into a blast and sent it flying into the lady's back.

The world started to fall apart. Danny's eyes jumped down, watching himself dissolve into nothingness.

_No! _

He held perfectly still, trembling as he forced his body back into reality. Barely able to remain upright, he shook as he fought off the panic that was trying to envelope him. He'd felt, just for a moment, an intense emptiness. A void so vast and silent that even a brief glimpse had seared itself into his memory.

Finally, licking at his lips, he took a deep breath. _I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay_, he chanted silently. Pushing himself unsteadily to his feet, Danny staggered across the room. Jessica Oscura was lying in a puddle of green skirts and caramel curls, blood from a cut on her forehead trickling onto the waxed floor. He stood there, weaving drunkenly, watching her breathe.

_Just die…_

The image of his mother in the same position curled through his mind. "Mom," he whispered, tears in his eyes. He body sank to the floor even as he thought about saving her. His head dropped to tiles. Pressing his forehead against the cold mosaic floor, he closed his eyes and let his churning emotions take him over.

_I can't even move. How can I save her?_

His breath rasping in his throat, Danny found his body had nothing left to give. He could do nothing but pray for her safety.

_**To be continued…** _


	2. Invisible

_Into the shadows you must run._

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**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

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Chapter 2: Invisible

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Danny knelt, his mind tortured with images of his mother dying. Slowly he brought his head up, staring at the flickering, green candle. _Stupid candle_, he hissed in his mind, too tired and aching to actually speak. _What can I do?_

_I need to rescue her,_ _but how?_ His brain refused to answer. He dropped his head back to the floor, darkness swirling around the edges of his vision with just that movement.

A picture of his weakened mother not able to fight off the guards all by herself flooded into his mind. _Stop that_. _She's a ninth degree black belt. She can handle anything._

Nevertheless, more pictures slid into his head, digging into his tired body like needles. In many ways, they were worse than the pain. "Fine," he whispered aloud, raising his head to stare at the hallway. The darkness clawed at his sight.

Pushing himself to his feet, he stood perfectly still, swaying. He swallowed harshly, fighting back the nausea that swirled through him. Carefully, he slid one foot forwards. He could see the floor through his legs. Fighting off a wave of terror at that, he forced his eyes upwards, focusing on the door. "I can do this."

Step by step, Danny wove his way across the room. He reached the wall, following it into the black hallway. After a few feet, he paused, leaning against the wall to rest.

"Ah!" he yelped, tumbling through the solid wall. He lay on the floor in the dark hallway, halfway through the wall, blinking in confusion. _I'm not solid enough._ A morose chuckle trickled out of him as he staggered to his feet once more. _Permanently intangible._ Doing his best to push the aches and pains out of his mind, he struggled across the hall. Ignoring the next wall completely, he simply walked through it.

A few walls later, he heard it. "Move," a tired voice commanded. Danny held still, his breath lodged in his throat. The female voice continued. "Then I move you."

"Mom," he rasped, throwing himself through the last wall, knowing that he was too drained to be much help. Two men appeared right before him, glowering down the hallway. One of them raised a gun, the barrel sparkling in dim sunlight.

Danny stared at them, yanking more energy out of his soul. His entire body beginning to unravel, he focused the slight bit of energy into his arms. Daggers of pain sliced along his arms and into his brain. The glow of energy was barely visible. _I have to make this count…_

He threw himself at the guards. His fingers reached out, swirling energy at his fingertips, and he clawed at their faces. Fingernails found soft tissue. Energy flared. Caught off guard, the two guards screamed. They collapsed, pawing at their eyes, smearing thick streams of blood around on their faces.

Danny fell on top of them – fell _through_ them, actually – and closed his eyes in agony. _Breathe,_ he commanded, the pain wreaking havoc in his mind making it impossible to do anything.

He used his arms to pull himself out of the men's writhing bodies. Unfocused eyes flickered up to where his mother was standing, staring at him with a look of terror on her face. "Go!" he gasped, making a half-hearted effort to point out the door. His eyes caught a glimpse of his hand as it moved. Nothing more than a vague outline.

Tears prickled in his eyes. The ever-present pain started to slowly recede. Almost in awe, he raised his hands before his face, staring down at the blurry outlines. The throbbing, stinging feeling vanished completely a few moments later, leaving him feeling like he was floating a mile over his body.

_This is it_, he thought again, not even really able to sigh anymore. His body was becoming more transparent by the second. He clenched his fingers, feeling the distant pain of the movement, barely able to see his fists. Something huge and vast and powerful was closing in on him, curling around him. _This is what it feels like to die_.

Anger, frustration, and hatred drained out of him. It was nothing compared to the emptiness. Caught in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice his mother until she poked her finger through his shoulder. He glanced up at her, feeling a warm glow in his stomach when he looked into her eyes. _At least she'll be fine_.

"I'm sorry," he rasped. He knew he should be feeling pain and sorrow, but this empty, distant feeling was too pervasive. "I can't help you anymore. You're on your own." The words were like the wind, soft and gentle and barely audible.

"No… you'll be fine," she whispered, her eyes hard and determined. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Danny merely shook his head. _No, I won't. But that's okay. _

His eyes focused over his shoulder. Two new men were rounding the corner and dashing towards them. Danny felt a distant cold finger twist into his stomach. _Fear? _"No…" He looked up at his mother. "Run!" he screamed, praying that it was loud enough for her to hear.

She hesitated a moment longer, glancing over her shoulder. "Not without…"

While her head was turned, Danny called on the last of his energy, forcing himself invisible. Maddie's eyes came back around, looking for him. "Phantom?" She crouched there for a few more heartbeats, Danny staring invisibly into her eyes with tears in his eyes.

Finally, she ran.

**_To be continued…_**


	3. Angels

_It is in the deepest shadows where the angels hide, watching._

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**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

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Chapter 3: Angels

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Danny turned his eyes to the two men barreling down the hallway. N_o._ He let go of the invisibility, but his body never swirled back into existence. _I've used up too much energy_...

The emptiness was numbing his mind, calming the terror that kept trying to claw its way in. He blinked at the Hispanic men, a small smile on his face. _I have to do something_, his mind whispered evenly, his ears still able to pick up the sounds of his mother racing through the woods.

_This is going to hurt._

He closed his invisible eyes, a silent breath coming into his nonexistent lungs. Slowly, calmly, he focused. Deep down inside of him, he felt the power of his ghost life. It fizzled weakly, not at all like its normal, cold, flaming urn of power. _It's dying. _He reached for it, his mental fingers probing the frozen embers of his spectral soul carefully.

Quicker than thought, yet slower than molasses, he brushed the splinters of his ghost out of the way, uncovering a warm ball of energy underneath. Danny picked it up in his mind, cradling it close to him. It flickered and fizzled in his fingers, hot tendrils of power curling through him. This was no ghostly energy. This was never meant to be used, this thing at the very core of his being. _My human soul_.

_My last chance at living_, his brain murmured. _If I use this up, I'm gone for good._ He blinked down at the incredibly tiny ball of energy, tears trickling out of his invisible eyes.

_Mom._

Without another thought, he squashed his mental fingers together, the thin shell of the ball crumbling away. White-hot power flooded through his body. He screamed in pain, thrashing out with arms that were abruptly visible again. Sound became real, the scream wrenching itself from his throat. His body flickered back into existence. The emptiness popped and vanished, the searching pain of earlier slamming into him.

Forcing breaths in and out of his lungs, he cracked open his eyes. The two guards were ten feet from him, holding still in the shadows and watching him. Danny tried to grin, pushing himself to his feet, taking a trembling step towards them.

The men backed up. One reached for a gun.

Affixing a menacing leer on his face, Danny called energy to his palms. He forced himself to laugh through the prickling, tingling, _extremely_ painful feeling that swept own his arms. White lightning sizzled around him, jumping from his hands to arc over his body.

One guard dropped his gun and took another weak-kneed step backwards. "Un ángel… imposible."

Danny held out his hand, white-bright lightning fizzling at his thought. It blazed away from him, bolts of light slicing through the darkened hallway to strike the two men. They tumbled to the floor, unconscious, their clothes and hair smoking.

Behind him, the two men who had been clawing at their eyes fell silent. Danny glanced back, watching bits of smoke curling up from their bodies as well.

He found himself laughing, light-headed, and dizzy. He leaned back against the wall and gazed out at the semi-lit night. His mother wasn't there. _Perfect._

He sank down to his heels, his back scraping against the cold wall. Sighing, he pressed his palms into his eyes, sparks jumping to life. Deep inside, his soul was dwindling away, keeping him alive – but not for much longer. He could feel it, like a battery on its final charge, beginning to flutter and spurt. Unlike a battery however, there was no way he could just plug in his soul and let it recharge. _No returns, exchanges, or refunds_.

Danny glanced up when one of the guards moaned and shifted. _They can't wake up yet_. He glanced at the still night. _She's not far enough away._

Pushing himself to his feet, he moved over to kneel next to the guards. Breathing heavily at the exertion, he grabbed the coil of rope attached to one of the guard's belt. "Now…" He shrugged the rope onto his shoulder, reaching down to grab one of the guards by the shoulders and drag him back to the high-vaulted room.

After just a few steps, his stomach twinged. He dropped the man, clutching his stomach with his arms. "Ow…" A wave of panic swept through him as he felt the energy keeping him alive splutter and hesitate. _Okay, I won't do that._ He slowly straightened, his eyes taking in the heavy men with a groan. "I need to do something."

He yanked the rope off his arm and stared at it for a moment, then reached down to riffle through the guard's utility belt. A grin flickered into his face as he yanked a knife out of a random pocket. He snicked it open and quickly sliced the rope into pieces. Tossing the knife away into the darkness, he leaned down to tie the man's arms together.

"Better," he whispered. "It won't hold them long, but hopefully long enough."

It took just a few more minutes to tie up the other men. "It's your own fault, you know," he informed the unconscious lady as he tied her arms behind her back. "You kidnapped my mother. What was I supposed to do?"

She didn't answer.

"Speechless, I see," he mocked, letting her fall back to the tile with a clunk. He cocked his head to the side. "I hope that's as uncomfortable as it looks." He brushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. "Get everything you deserve, Jessica," he whispered.

He turned, wanting to leave this place, but he paused at the sight of his reflection in the huge stained-glass window. It was a broken reflection that made him look like a Picasso painting. Danny took a step forwards, crackling lightning flaring around him.

Catching sight of the white-hot energy twisting around him, Danny stopped, his eyes wide. The lightning coiled around him and arced over his head. Finally he laughed, his tired chuckle echoing in the vast room. The white bolts of energy flared around him like wings: huge, white wings of power. Danny raised one hand, palm outstretched, watching the energy curl forwards like wings beating. _Un ángel._

Letting the energy fade away, he shook his head. He turned away from his reflection, heading back down the hallway. Stepping carefully past the four unconscious guards by the entrance, he glanced down at his hand. Once more, he was fading into invisibility. He sighed, stepping out into the moonlit night.

A soft breeze wandered through the area, brushing his hair against his forehead. That distant flying feeling was sliding back into his head, pushing the aches and sad thoughts away. Almost without thought, he drifted into the field, finding a small clearing in the tall grass. He lay on his back, crossing his arms behind his head as a cushion, and stared up at the sky.

_My family is safe_, he thought. The cold vastness was back, starting to prickle his fingers and toes. It tickled against his thoughts like a small fly, barely noticed. _And now I'm going to die._ He couldn't feel the fear that should be coursing through him. He was just calm.

The stars winked down at him. He traced the constellations with his eyes, waiting for the end. _I wish_… his mind trailed off. Dreams of traveling to the stars were gone, shattered months ago with the accident that had left him half alive. _But still. I wish…_

White-hot energy faded, slipping through his fingers. Danny closed his eyes, marveling at the feeling. It was like dropping off a building and flying up into the sky at the same time. He plummeted through space, his mind soaring away from him.

Silent, a lone tear tracing down his nearly invisible cheek, Danny vanished into the air. His body fell apart into a greenish-white mist, the single tear dropping through what remained of him and splattering against the ground.

The breeze blew softly through the clearing again, but this time found no dirty hair to muss. Instead, it ruffled the grass he had crushed when he laid down. The wind picked the mist and scattered it into the world. After only a moment, there was no sign anybody had ever been there.

However, _something_ noted his passing. In the gilded, vaulted room with the tiled floor, the green candle suddenly snuffed out and a curl of smoke swirled lazily through the air. The wisp drifted over to the unconscious Jessica Oscura and settled down around her head like a wreath. Even dead to the world, a slight smile drifted onto her lips.

_**To be continued…** _


	4. Shattered

_Step into the shadows my friends, and see what the darkness hides._

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**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

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Chapter 4: Shattered

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The emptiness brought pain with it.

It seared through his body like a million shards of hot glass, slicing through him. Danny clenched his teeth as he felt his body shred into a million pieces. He muffled the screams of pain that were twisting in his stomach, begging to be released. _Stop_, he begged. _Please!_

The pain kept coming, kneading into his brain. The crystals of agony dug into his body, twisting and turning, working their way towards the very center of his being. He felt his body falling apart, pinpricks of pain flooding through him in a hellish counterpoint to the shards of pain.

Finally his mouth opened, a shriek ready to lash into the world, but he no longer had a mouth to scream with. Danny twitched, trying to curl up into a ball, but his body no longer existed. His mind was left open to the painful attacks, and the shards pressed their advantage, slamming into the remains of his soul.

His mind screamed and thrashed in the horribly vast emptiness of the afterlife, trying to escape the pain. _Leave me alone!_ He pushed away from the agony, his mind brushing against one of the crystal shards.

_"Danny." Sam's voice swirled through the blackness, whispering in his ear. "Promise you won't leave me?" Her amethyst eyes appeared, blinking at him through the dark. The rest of her soon followed, her head tipped to the side, her rare, beautiful smile flickering across her face. _

Then she was gone. Danny fought his way free of the crystal shards for a moment, reaching for the place where Sam had been. _Sam… don't leave me!_ He screamed as the agonizing shards sliced into him again. Without noticing, his fingers trailed across the smooth surface of another crystal, sending white-hot prickles of pain growing in his mind.

_"You are a hero," his mother laughed, fading into existence. She was worn and depressed, an image from just a few days ago as she sat in the dark. _

_Mom!_ he yelled as she vanished. _Come back!_ Anger flickered through him, pushing back at the emotionless dark. He touched a third crystal without thinking, yelping at the suddenly influx of agony.

_His dad was there, grinning enthusiastically, waving his latest invention in the air. "I'm proud of you, son!" he bellowed, the entire school hearing his boisterous words._

The crystals held back. The pain slowed. Hesitantly, he hung in the abyss, gazing the crystal shards hovering around him, waiting. Slowly, he reached out one mental finger and trailed it along the crystal's razor edge, clenching his jaw at the pain that stabbed up his arm.

_"Here you go, Danny," Jazz said, holding out his lost homework. "You deserve it, you know? Being the hero all the time." She smiled at him, ruffling his hair._

He gazed at the thousands of crystals. _My family?_ He stroked one more crystal, his mind still working on figuring this out. In a wave of pain, the image appeared.

_Tucker swirled into view, his red beret crooked. He grinned at Danny, the scratch on his face dripping blood down his chin. "Dude, we're your friends. We're here to help you." _

_No. Not anymore. _Danny pulled away from the crystals, pushing himself farther into the emptiness. _I'm dead. Leave me alone! _

He fled from the agony-filled crystals, his eyes widening when they started following him. One crystal sped forwards, faster than the others, and sliced into his mind. Sparkling lightnings of pain sizzled through him, an image twisting before his eyes.

_His mother, some of the last words she had said to him. "You'll be fine. Come on, let's get out of here." She held out her hand, waiting, tears in her eyes. _

He screamed. _Leave me alone!_

But the crystal shards would no longer be denied. They slammed into him, one after another, their tiny moments of life dancing and blurring before his eyes. Danny struggled, pushing them away, but they came back, more and more of them. People he barely remembered the names of, family, friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers swirled around him, their faces and voices slurring together.

Faster and faster they came, individual points of white-hot pain merging into one continuous wave of agony. The faces and the voices became a buzz of constant noise and color. Danny crouched down, curling up, trying to ignore them. After an eternity of pain and noise, the voices suddenly coalesced into one. "_Danny_," the voices cried, echoing in the blackness, fearful, terrified, proud, excited, happy, sad, and hopeful. "_Don't leave! We need you!_"

"How?" he screamed, curling up into a tighter ball, fighting to get away from the pain.

"_Danny, don't leave us!_"

"How?" he begged, tears trickling down his cheeks in the darkness. "Help me! Please!"

"_Don't leave!_" the voices thundered. Danny trembled at their power, closing his eyes against the faces of Amity Park.

He pushed himself dizzily to his feet. "I won't!" he screamed, fighting against the waves of pain. He opened his eyes, facing the voices that were haunting him. "I won't!"

"_Danny_," the voices rumbled, the screams and please for help echoing around him, their power thrumming through him. "_Don't leave us!_"

Danny screamed, his eyes flaring green. "I _won't_!"

As the crystals cut into his soul, Danny felt their power fizzle into him. He spread his arms, letting the power of Amity Park flood through him. "I won't leave you," he vowed softly, "not now." Amity Park was _his_. He would protect it. He would be there for his family. He wouldn't leave his friends. "Not ever," he whispered.

"You hear me?" he shrieked into the blackness, pain and power roiling around in a giant thunderstorm. "I won't give up. I _promise_!"

Around him, the abyss suddenly exploded with light, the pain dashing away from him like ripples in a pond. The crystal shards vanished, their voices screaming. Within a single breath he was alone, bathed in light and warmth.

Danny scrunched his eyes shut, breathing heavily, letting his head fall backwards. The light stayed, pain free but blinding.

After a moment of enjoying the warm light, he started to take in his surroundings. He was lying on something pokey and ticklish. Bits jabbed at him here and there, and something soft was moving over him, brushing his hair around.

_I'm finally dead,_ he thought to himself. Strangely, he was quite calm about this idea. He relaxed, enjoying the absence of pain. He laid in the warmth, soaking in the peacefulness, his body losing more of its tension every second. _I can handle dead. I've been half-dead for more than a year, after all. _

Something sticky and warm grabbed his nose. "Ah!" he yelped, his eyes popping open. He saw a glimpse of a brownish face surrounded by black curls before his eyes slammed shut again. _Too bright_. He forced his eyes back open, blinking away tears of pain, and slowly sat up. He stared in wonder at the creature that had woken him up.

**_To be continued..._**


	5. Cookies

_Between light and dark, there lurks shadows._

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**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

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Chapter 5: Cookies

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She was staring at him, wide-eyed. Her pink dress was grass-stained, her coffee-colored skin smudged with dirt. Beneath her mass of tight, black curls, her black eyes were huge and sparkling. She waved at him with one sticky hand. "Ghost-boy!" she shrieked happily, cookie crumbles flying out of her mouth.

Danny collapsed onto the ground, smiling broadly. It was just a normal little girl. _I'm not dead! _A bubble of laughter trickled up his throat. _I'm alive!_ Warmth curled in his stomach. He closed his eyes, basking in the glow.

But the warmth was gone much too quickly. A new form of emptiness flooded into him, intense and twisting. He was tired, hungry, and weak. Slowly, he opened his eyes once again, eying the chocolate-smeared girl. Pushing himself into a sitting position, his gaze fixed on the bag of cookies the girl had clutched in one fist.

"Cookie?" the girl cooed, holding out a chocolate chip cookie with one grubby hand.

Danny took the cookie, watching carefully to make sure he didn't scare the little girl, and sent her a smile. "Thanks," he rasped, taking a bite. He barely suppressed a moan of delight. It was, without a doubt, the best cookie he had ever eaten. Popping the rest of the cookie into his mouth, he licked his fingers, already feeling the glow of energy as the cookie was quickly metabolized by his ghost body.

The girl smiled at him, flashing her tiny, white teeth. "Good?" she asked, leaning forwards and looking him straight in the eyes.

"Very good," Danny said softly. "May I have another one?"

She laughed, reaching into the bag again. Yanking out another cookie, she took a bite. "Magic word?" she asked.

"Please?" he grinned at her.

The girl nodded, obviously happy with his manners. She dropped the rest of the bag of cookies into his lap without another word and crunched on the cookie still in her fingers. "Mommy, Mommy!" the girl called, turning around and vanishing behind a bush.

He listened to her wander farther away and snuck his hand into the bag. He grabbed one of the chocolate chip cookies, slowly savoring every bite. Energy glowed deep inside of him.

"Mommy!" he heard the girl shriek. He tipped his head to the side at the sudden change in her voice, tensing, afraid that she was in trouble. But the mother's voice was calm and crisp. "Sweetheart, where did you leave your cookies?" The little girl giggled. "Ghost-boy!"

Danny clutched the bag of cookies to his chest and staggered to his feet. He gasped as he legs gave out on the first attempt, sending him back to his knees. Finally he was standing, his legs trembling, leaning against a tree trunk. _Yup,_ he through sarcastically, _I'm definitely alive. Nobody dead can be this tired._

Gritting his teeth at the effort it was taking, he slowly staggered off into the woods. _Stupid dark room couldn't kill me, evil psychopathic lady didn't, Ghost King couldn't, Plasmius doesn't stand a chance, hell – even I couldn't kill me. This isn't such a big deal_. At that thought, his legs turned to rubber and he nearly dropped the precious bag of cookies as he grabbed at the nearest tree branch. He held perfectly still, getting his feet securely underneath him once more.

"Sweetheart, there's no ghost-boy here." Behind him, the girl argued with her mother. "Yes there was, Mommy! He was right here. I promise!" "Darling, don't lie to me, it's not nice." "Mommy!"

Slowly, almost painfully, Danny stumbled through the woods, ignoring the two voices fading into the distance. He pushed himself from tree trunk to tree trunk, breathing heavily, pausing every few minutes to snag another cookie from the bag. Finally, after what had to have been hours of hard work – but was probably more like twenty minutes – he spotted a small stream. He paused at the top of the small embankment, breathing heavily as he rested against a large maple tree. "Fun," he whispered, examining the obstacle.

Carefully, slowly, he stepped out onto the slight downhill, his legs choosing that moment to turn to pudding. He collapsed into a patch of mud next to the stream in a tangle of tired limbs. Groaning in pain and disgust, he pushed himself to his knees and crawled back up the hill a little ways. He sank to his knees in a dry spot, scooping the worst of the muck off and tossing it back into the stream.

"At least the cookies are safe," he muttered, laughing softly at the panic he had felt seeing the bag covered in mud. "I'm a hero." Wiping his mucky hands on a clean spot of his ripped and torn jumpsuit, he reached into the bag and grabbed another cookie.

Munching contentedly, he looked around, trying to figure out what to do next. "You know," he mumbled, "running away from the park was probably a bad idea." He examined his muddy fingers carefully, noting that the cookie was gone far too fast. After a second of contemplating, he licked his dirty fingers anyway.

"Let's see. Priority number one." His eyes drifted to the mud-speckled bag sitting on the grass. "Find more food." He picked up the bag, glancing inside. _Two left_. "Next, I need sleep to get some energy back." Biting back a yawn, he grabbed another cookie. "And I need to find out what happened to my mom."

"So…" he trailed off, his eyes fixing on the stream. "You think this is Calvin's Creek?" The trees around him were silent, refusing to answer. "If it is," he mused, "than this goes through that old development next to Valerie's apartment." He raised an eyebrow, stealing the last cookie out of the bag. "So, theory goes that if I follow it downstream, I should hit Valerie's place. Simple."

He crumpled the empty cookie bag and sighed. "It's going to be a long walk." Pushing himself back to his feet, he closed his eyes and focused for a moment. His bare feet levitated slightly, but he dropped back to the ground after only a heartbeat. "Yup, walking is easier," he panted.

He took a few steps, but he dropped back to his knees when he tripped over a stone. "Yeah," he muttered darkly, pushing himself back up. Eyes screwed tightly shut as a wave of dizziness washed over him, he scowled. "This will just be a walk in the park, won't it?"

He staggered off into the woods.

_**To be continued...**_


	6. Soup

_Seek out your friends quickly, lest the shadows swallow you up._

* * *

**Shadows  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 6: Soup

* * *

Blinking at the bright red setting sun, Danny leaned against the tree trunk and surveyed the mess before him. _I was right. That was Calvin's Creek_. Before him, an ancient apartment complex stood wearily against the encroaching darkness. Long abandoned, the yard had been left to its own devices. The lawn was now an overgrown mess of weeds, the trees dying and falling over. _It looks like a perfect hotel for a ghost to spend the night_, he thought sarcastically, _what luck._

He stumbled a few steps into the lawn before he tripped over his own exhausted feet and collapsed into the weeds. Moaning, he closed his eyes and curled up in a ball, rethinking his desire to sleep in that building. _The grass is nice_. He lay perfectly still, listening to the quiet emptiness around him, his own raspy breathing marring an otherwise still night.

"I wish I had a real stomach as a ghost," he whispered, "that way it could object to the lack of food and I'd have something to listen to."

Caught up in his own grumblings and complainings, he didn't notice the crunching footsteps until they were right next to him. "Hey, kid!"

Danny shot upwards, his breath catching in his throat. Almost without thought he was in a crouch, glancing around, ready to run or fight. His eyes caught on a pair of worn boots and travelling upwards, finding ripped blue jeans, a thick jacket, and a dirty face. The middle-aged man smiled, his creased face open and friendly. "The grass can't be that comfortable."

"You'd be surprised," Danny whispered, sinking back to the ground.

The man shook his head. "Come on, I got grub," he said, walking away.

Danny watched him go, furrowing his eyebrows. The man dropped into an ancient-looking folding chair in the shadow of the abandoned apartment building. He had a small fire burning in a pit. Leaning forward, the man stirred something sitting next to the campfire. He glanced back. "You hungry?" he called.

"Sure, why not?" Danny wondered to himself, staggering to his feet. Carefully he drifted towards the man, watching where his feet were going in the vanishing light. More than once he dropped to his knees as an errant toe caught in the weeds, upsetting his shaky balance.

He made it to the edge of the firelight before hesitating. The man was busy over the campfire, messing with a coffee can propped up on a rock. Leaning back in his chair, the man grabbed a sweater and pulled it on over his jacket, shivering slightly. Danny glanced up at the moon, knowing there must be an early fall chill in the air, but he was not able to feel it. He sighed softly, turning back to the rough-cut man.

"I don't bite, kid," the man chuckled. "I got my rabies shots just the other day."

"I know you don't bite," Danny mumbled, still refusing to step into the light.

For a second, they stared at each other. "What," the man said, wrinkling his brow, "you some kind of monster that doesn't like the fire?"

Danny glanced down at his fingers. Underneath the mud and scratches, his skin was translucent and vaguely glowing. Frankly, he was surprised his glowing eyes hadn't scared the man away yet. _Maybe I don't have enough energy for my eyes to be glowing too much_.

"Sit!" the man commanded, his voice deepening into a thick middle English accent. "Be ye man or beast or creature of the night, sit and partake of mine meal!" He laughed, grabbing two cups out of a box by his side.

Danny edged into the light, his eyes fixed on the man. He hesitated, one hand on the offered chair, tense and ready to run, when the man stopped and stared at him. "What happened to you?" the man whistled in awe. "Get sucked through a garbage disposal?"

"Huh?" Danny blinked, startled. He glanced down at himself, looking past his fingers, a half-grin on his face as he realized what the man meant. He was covered in greenish blood, mud, and bits of plants. His jumpsuit was ripped and torn, almost hanging on him in rags, his shoes were missing, and his exposed skin – where not covered in mud – was scratched and bruised. "Oh… well…" he broke off, trying to come up with an explanation.

"Skip it," the man snorted, "although it's probably a great story. Sit, kid."

Danny crumpled into the lawn chair, his tired brain grateful to be off the hook for coming up with a story. He sighed, letting his eyes drift closed slightly.

"Here," the man offered him a cup full of soup. "You look like you haven't eaten in a week."

A grin flickered across his face as he reached for the cup. "Two weeks, almost," he whispered, his eyes sparkling at the wonderful smell curling up from the warm liquid. "Thanks." He took a huge sip, ignoring the burning sensation as it seared down his throat.

He glanced up at the man. The drifter's grey eyes were watching him carefully. "You hear about that kid and his mother than vanished two weeks ago?"

"Yeah," Danny replied slowly, taking another sip. _Does he know about my mom?_ _Is she okay?_

"Of course you did," the man said softly, tipping his head and taking a drink of his own soup. "It was headlines for more than a week. What was his name…" The man tapped his nose, thinking. Silence descended, broken only by the swallowing of soup and the crackling of the fire. "Ah yes, Danny Fenton." Grey eyes narrowed, watching Danny carefully. "You aren't Danny Fenton… are you?"

Danny hesitated. "No," he finally said, shaking his head sourly. "I'm not." He stared at the broth in the cup, rolling it slowly between his hands. "You haven't heard anything new, have you? The kid or his mother?" He didn't dare glance up, afraid that his eyes would give too much away.

"Hmm." The man's chair creaked as he shifted, sipping his soup. "Can't say, really. I don't remember much about the mother; the news has all been about the kid. He was supposed to be declared dead, you know, now that the search has been called off." There was silence for a moment as they listened to the crackling of the fire. "Poor kid, probably starved according to the papers. I bet their family was devastated."

Danny finished his soup in silence, letting the man's words drift through him. _If only I'm being declared dead, that means they found Mom, right? She had to have told them…_

"You need a place to stay tonight?" the man interrupted his thoughts. "It's going to be cold."

"I'm fine," Danny murmured.

"You sure?" Danny finally glanced up at him, grinning at the odd look the man was giving him. "You look half-dead, kid. You sure you're going to be okay?"

"I just need to rest," he said softly. "Thanks for the soup." Danny set the cup down next to the fire, watching the glowing, dancing embers for a moment. "What's your name?" he asked suddenly.

The man grinned, showing every one of his blackened teeth. "Name's Jim, nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand to shake, blinking at the cold feeling of Danny's hand. "Who're you?"

Danny laughed sourly. "Just a ghost nobody cares about."

Jim raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "A ghost?" His mouth fell open. "You're that ghost. Phantom, right?"

"I have to go." Danny pushed himself out of his chair, the soup already causing a warm glow of energy. He took a few steps, his legs steadier than they had been in days.

"Kid," Jim said softly, putting a warm hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny turned to look at him for a second. "People care about you. They figured you died a few days ago. They're planning some kind of memorial for you."

"I'm just a ghost," Danny murmured.

"Well, just-a-ghost," Jim laughed, "you're also a hero." He grinned at Danny, his grey eyes sparkling with delight. "You're _our_ hero. Amity Park has never had a hero before, you know. We're kind of protective." Jim sobered slightly, leaning forwards to gaze right into Danny's eyes. "We're here for you kid, you just have to ask."

Danny stared at him for second in disbelief, then shook his head. "Thanks for the soup, Jim."

"My pleasure, hero," Jim laughed, dropping back into his lawn chair. "Stop by anytime, I'll be here."

Danny rolled his eyes, walking steadily into the night. Behind him, he could hear Jim muttering about the foolishness of teenagers – even ghost teenagers. Containing a grin at the heady influx of energy, Danny slid around the corner of the apartment building, allowing Jim's campfire to vanish into the shadows.

**_To be continued..._**


	7. Sleep

_Don't close your eyes in the shadows of the night._

* * *

**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 7: Sleep

* * *

After only a few steps, Danny hesitated, peering into the night. _Which way?_ he wondered silently, a half-thought to go back and ask Jim. He turned around, glancing back at the slight flickering of light. "No," he whispered softly. "I can do this."

But a few minutes later, he was still standing. Finally, he just sighed. "I'll find my way in the morning," he muttered, glancing up at the ancient building looming above him. _A few hours of sleep will be awesome_. "This is as good a place to sleep as any, I suppose."

A few steps down, the door of the abandoned apartment stood partly open, the black hallway a monster's maw in the deep shadows of the night. He stepped closer, blinking at the 'Condemned' sign posted on the door. Danny stumbled to a stop, staring into the darkness beyond the door. _This is not a good idea…_

Despite his thoughts, he stepped through the door and into the rickety building. The floor creaked under his light weight, the dead leaves scattered across the floor crackling under his feet. After a few hesitant steps, he slowed and came to a stop, the silent building breathing around him. A grin flickered across his lips. "A perfect haunt for a ghost," he laughed, the thick cobwebs dangling into his face.

Ducking a particularly thick strand of cobwebs, he slid farther into the building, his eye catching a dark stairwell. "Up?" he wondered, shrugging. He creaked the stairwell door open the rest of the way, ghosting up the rickety stairs. Coming to the third floor, he stepped out into the hallway, wandering down its crumbling length. Spiders and small insects scurried away from his footsteps, a mass of gnat-like bugs swirling around his head whenever he stepped into one of the decaying piles of leaves.

He skirted a hole in the floor, brushed past crumbling wallpaper, and leapt lightly over a mass of _something_ on the floor. Peaking through each door, he moved farther and farther down the hall, a small hope of finding an old chair or some kind of mattress to sleep on. Finally, he gave up on that. _It'd probably be disgusting anyway_.

The last apartment had a small, brass seven nailed crookedly on the door. He pushed the door open, peering into the encroaching darkness. The three-room apartment was empty and quiet, the lone window along the opposite wall broken and letting in a breeze that was stirring the junk on the floor. He walked over to the shattered glass, looking out over the town. The park he had struggled through was barely visible in the cloudy night.

"Great," he muttered. Settling down into a corner, unconsciously dropping into the same position he'd been trapped in for weeks, he took a deep breath. "Well…" he trailed off, glancing around the room. Deep in his stomach, the soup was still blazing through his ghost form, its temporary energy fizzling and burning.

"Tomorrow, I'm going home," he whispered to the room. A small smile grew on his face. "Home." That one word brought little bubbles of happiness into his mind.

Grinning slightly, his eyes drifted closed. He yawned, sinking happily into sleep. Before he could let that comfortable heaviness surround him, there was a scuffling in the corner. "Jim?" he whispered. Sleepily, his eyes flitted open at the lack of an answer.

He gasped, pulling his stretched-out legs in against his chest. All around him, eyes glittered from the shadowed recesses of the room. A few of the beady eyes moved forwards, short, furry bodies highlighted by the dim light from the window. Long tails rasped against the floor.

Rats.

**_To be continued..._**


	8. Fear

_Do not fear that which hides in shadows._

* * *

**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 8: Fear

* * *

Yanking his knees as close to him as he could, he stared out at the gathering rats. "Scat!" he yelled. "What do you want?" The rats just stared at him, their eyes gleaming.

One of the rats, its matted fur shimmering in the moonlight, crept forwards. Its small claws clicked softly on the wooden floor. It advanced slowly until it was just a few feet from his toes and gazed at him for a moment. Behind the one brave rat, a few other rats chittered anxiously, hopping up and down, moving from side to side. One by one, a handful of lean rats slid forwards, stopping periodically to stare at him.

"Go away!" he snapped sharply, making the rats jump and scatter back into the darkness. "You don't scare me. Rats don't really attack humans."

Deep in the darkness, the black eyes reappeared, more and more eyes emerging out of the blackest holes in the walls. Silent except for the occasional scuffling of small bodies, the rats watched Danny. With a growing feeling of fear, Danny watched the rats.

"I'm not food," he snarled at the growing horde of rats. "So scram."

The rats edged closer. The full moon broke through the clouds and cast an eerie glow in the room. Mangy fur covered the rats' too-lean bodies and hungry eyes glittered above sharp, yellow teeth. The rats snapped at each other, instantly turning on their compatriots if a tail or ear got in their way.

A lone rat dashed in, trying to take a bite of Danny's bare foot. He rapped the rat with his hand, sending it flying back into the mass of rats. "Hey!" he screamed at the rats, making them jump backwards en masse, ears flattening. "Go away!"

Danny glanced at the door, his stomach sinking. _I can't fly or phase out of here, I don't have enough energy._ His eyes flickered back over the advancing mass of gray and brown fur. "Typical," he sighed. "I survive all of this and now I have to deal with _you_. Do you see the irony in this?"

He studied the rats. "I can't taste very good," he informed the rats blandly. "Trust me, I've eaten enough ectoplasm at supper."

The rats silently stared back, apparently unconcerned.

"Why are you attacking me? You don't have rabies, do-"

A rat rushed in, only to be bashed into the wall by a well-timed kick. On its heels, another rat snuck in from the opposite side and managed to sink its teeth into Danny's leg. "Ouch!" he yelped, knocking the rat away with his fist. "Stupid rat!"

The pack moved forwards as one, sharp incisors glittering in the light from the moon. "Stay away from me," Danny warned, trying to make his trembling voice dark and scary. He pointed at the rats, his eyes flaring with fear-filled energy. "Stay… stay…"

Not heeding his command in the slightest, a handful of rats jumped at him. They latched onto his flailing body, slicing into his arms, shoulders, and legs. "No!" Danny hollered in pain, instinctively searching for a way out it. He found an escape deep inside of himself, a swirl of white-hot energy that pooled and sizzled. Power burned through his body, the rats shrieking as the energy sparked into them.

Panting, he sank back against the wall, his tired eyes flickering around the room, panic bubbling through him. In a flash of fear, he held up his fingers, gazing at them. While still vaguely transparent, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. Danny's shaking hands dropped back to his side. "Stop that," he chided himself. "You're not going to vanish because you used up a little energy."

He glanced towards the shadowed doorway. Several rats – probably the ones he'd zapped – were lying on the floor. The rest were nowhere to be seen. _Come on, let's get out of here. _

His legs refused to work. The comforting warm buzz of energy from the cookies and soup was completely gone and he was left empty and tired. No matter how much He pushed against the wall, he kept finding himself back on the floor. "Damnit," he whispered, dropping his head onto his knees. "Maybe they won't come back."

He sat there for a long time, his eyelids becoming heavier with the passage of time. He tracked the moonlight drifting slowly across the dirty floor. His eyes closed for a moment when the square of silver light was a few inches from his foot.

A sharp bite to his toes snapped him back awake, kicking out at the offending rat. It jumped lithely out of the way, snaking in to take a snap at his hand. "Stupid rat!" he shouted in pain, throwing the rat across the room with a flick of his hand. There was a scrambling sound as it hit the floor. "Go away!"

Staring around the room, he swallowed when he saw the glittering, black eyes. It was definitely a smaller mob than the first one, but there were still too many. "Don't you dare," he muttered darkly. "I'm a scary and powerful ghost, and you are just a bunch of stupid rats."

Ignoring his commentary, the rodents snuck closer and closer, quiet chittering filling the air.

Fear twisting into his brain, he stared at the beady eyes and shimmering fur. "Go away!" he yelled, _reaching_ for that forbidden pool of energy deep in his soul. His whole body flared with power, green-white lightning zapping through the room and scorching the nearest rats. The room was suddenly empty again. A few more comatose rat bodies scattered on the floor. Danny pressed his back against the wall, gasping with the use of power.

Within seconds, the eyes were back.

"No," he whispered, looking over the reassembling rats. He glanced down at his hands, panicking slightly when he could see the rats through his hands, but his gaze was inexorably drawn back to the growing number of rats. Danny pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall. He barely got to his feet before he collapsed back to the ground. He snarled at himself, frustrated and scared of how weak he was.

Closing his eyes, he curled his arms up over his head. "Stay away," he prayed softly, panic and fear scrambling his thoughts like a blender. If there was a better idea, he couldn't come up with it. Over and over, every time the scrabbling claws of a rat tapped against his cold skin, his body yanked energy out of his core. Over and over, he screamed in pain as green-white lightning zapped through the room, scorching rats, leaving him slightly more transparent.

Sometime during the night, he stopped counting how many times they snuck closer, how many times he chased them away. He sank deeper into the misery of night, letting his body run on autopilot, his mind swirling into a deadly depression.

When the sun finally rose, the rats vanished. In the bright light of the dawn sun, Danny was barely visible. Finally left alone, he closed his eyes and fell asleep, too exhausted and empty to cry. Too tired to move.

The sun was high in the sky when the scrabbling returned, dragging him out of his sleep. Danny didn't bother to open his eyes, or even move. _I don't care_. He took a ragged breath and let it out slowly.

_Let them come._

_**To be continued...** _


	9. Hope

_The strongest light will burn away any shadow._

* * *

**Shadows  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 9: Hope

* * *

He waited, silent and calm, for the rats to attack. _I'm too tired to do anything_. For a moment he closed his eyes, gauging the embers of energy sparkling in him. _Just a few more attacks and I'm done_.

Slowly he relaxed, forcing his trembling fingers to loosen. Consciously controlling his breathing, he refused to panic. _Stupid rodents_. His mind sinking into a cool, depressed state, his spirit seemingly floating over his body, his thoughts turned slightly sarcastic. _I wonder how long it will take them to kill me._

He was still debating whether or not to fight the rats one last time when the floor creaked behind him. He tensed; his carefully peaceful façade vanished. His breath catching in his throat, fingers balling back up into fists, he listened to the brushing of the creatures coming forwards. _Stop it,_ he ordered himself, _they're just rats. You are NOT afraid of rats._

Still, he cringed away from the sound of the creatures pausing at his back. He screwed his eyes shut, his toes curling, his stomach twisting painfully. _Go away…_

If he had the energy to do anything, he would have screamed in wild panic when something warm brushed across his cheek. _No, no, no, no, no, GO AWAY!_

"Phantom?"

_Wait. Rats don't talk…_ Scrounging up enough energy, he forced his eyes open. Although one eye refused to open at all due to a painful slice on his eyelid, he could make out a blurry head attached to hazy shoulders. Whoever-it-was peered down at him anxiously, reaching up to push his dirty hair out of his face.

"What?" he rasped, letting his eye drift back closed. "I want to sleep." _You're almost worse than the rats. Go away, I'm too tired._

"No, you can't sleep," the lady murmured. Danny moaned when she grabbed his shoulder, giving him a light shake. "I'm here to help you."

He channeled a bit more energy to his arms, a vague thought to push her away coalescing in his exhausted mind. When his arms did little more than twitch at his command, he gave up. "How?" _I'm exhausted. Why won't you just leave me alone?_ "Just leave me alone." _Please…_

Curling up into a tighter ball, he pushed the thought of the lady out of his head. _I'm just a ghost, she won't care – not really. She'll just go away. I don't want help._

"No."

Danny's flinched at her sharp retort. When she rolled him onto his back, he forced his eyes back open and blinked up at the blurry woman. Just as she was coming into focus, she turned away, rummaging through a small bag.

_Blue shirt, red hair_, he ticked off in his mind, his worn out brain refusing to put the clues together. Suddenly it clicked. _Mom!_ A painful smile slid onto his face, unable to be contained, accompanied a warm glow that settled into his chest. _She's okay._

Turning back, she held out the small bottle of water. "You are my hero. It's my turn to save you," she murmured, tipping his head back and pouring a small mouthful of the warm water into his mouth. He coughed as the water went down wrong, convulsing weakly. A grin appeared on her face, her eyes glittering.

_What did she call me?_ he wondered in awe. "You think I'm a hero?" The words came out feeble and stuttering, the voice of someone inches from death. Inwardly, Danny winced at the sound.

She ignored the raspy whisper, her eyes dancing in the light. "Yes. And I'm proud of you."

Danny let out a soft breath at that thought, the warm glow in his chest sparking happily.

"I'm going to get you out of here," she continued, "you'll be fine." She reached down, brushing his dirty hair out of his eyes again. "Everything will be alright, just like you promised."

He was so caught up in her expression, watching a happy tear trickle down her cheek, that another mouthful of water caught him completely by surprise. Coughing and gasping, his mind was whirling. His mother twisted away from him, rummaging through her pack. Danny pushed himself shakily onto an elbow, the warm glow in his chest and the sweet-tasting water sending a trickle of energy into his trembling body. "You accept me for what I am?"

It felt like a giant fist had closed around his chest as he waited for her answer. _Everything_ was riding on her response. He unconsciously leaned forwards, almost upsetting his fragile balance. Anxiety made his eyes flicker to life, glowing dully for a heartbeat.

"Of course," she answered distractedly, not glancing in his direction. Finally she yanked an old-style cell phone out of her bag and smiling.

"Really?" he mouthed, letting his arm give way and drop back to the floor. Tears burned in his swollen, aching eyes. _Thank you._ Staring up at the broken ceiling, his smile grew. No questions asked, complete stranger, she had accepted him. _She accepted me._

"Then I owe you an apology," he whispered, feeling joyful bubbles bursting inside of him. _I can live long enough in human form to get to the hospital._ He closed his eyes, focusing deep inside of himself. He'd been in ghost mode for so long, it was hard to find that warm, heavy feeling in his mind. But there it was still there. Jessica Oscura hadn't stolen it from him permanently.

"Why?" he heard her say, her voice distracted.

"For lying to you," he breathed, his mind centered on that warm, heavy sensation in his head. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed every ounce of power he had left. Freezing tingling swarmed over his body as rings of light appeared.

His eyes instantly drooped and he collapsed the rest of the way to the floor. His breathing was ragged and harsh in his ears, his heart beating lethargically. Two weeks of torment were suddenly catching up to his human body. Blackness swirled at the edges of his vision.

"Danny!" he heard his mother scream before he drifted away.

**_To be continued..._**


	10. Dreams

___Your worst nightmares hide in the shadows of your mind. _

* * *

**Shadows  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 10: Dreams

* * *

The rats wouldn't leave him alone.

They chased him silently through the passages of the abandoned apartment building, their eyes seeming to glow and shine in the light from his aura. Danny tried to cut left, but the rats streamed forward to block off his escape routes. To stop would mean being smothered in the flea-infested bodies of the rats. Left and right were impossible. Forwards was the only option. He took it.

The hallway stretched on forever. In the darkness, he could not see anything but the gleaming eyes. On and on he ran, too tired to fly but too scared to stop.

Suddenly a lady appeared in the darkness ahead of him, illuminated by flames that seemed to dance around her feet. She looked up at him, the light in her brown eyes quenched, her elegant green dress hanging limply on her frame. "Evening helper. Guess what time it is?" her voice was lifeless and monotone.

She raised her hands, thirteen candles arranged in concentric circles flaring about her. The green candle sitting just before her knees exploded into a spear of light that almost touched the ceiling. From the depths of the emerald flame, he could see two pairs of eyes staring out at him, begging for help. One pair was a glowing green, one pair a sky blue.

Danny flinched away from the lady and her hellish candles, staggering around the circle of light and fleeing farther down the corridor. Behind, the dead voice mocked him, slicing through the panting of the rats and the patter of thousands of feet. "You think you can win, hybrid? I am better than you. You are a disease. A blight on humanity. Run, freak, if you think you can."

A wall of rats rearing up in front of him forced Danny to twist to the right and skid through an open doorway, sliding into the room like a baseball player approaching home plate. Seeing their prey down for the count, the army of rats closed in, their teeth chattering in the deadly silence.

As they neared, Danny could finally see something other than their glittering eyes. By the glow from the windows, he watched in horror as they slunk closer and closer. Bones showed through the rats' rotten skin, maggots crawling all over the mangy fur. One, stumbling just inches from his hand, was missing its entire head – white neck bones waved in the air. Another rat, little more than bone and clumps of matted hair, grabbed a wriggling maggot from a nearby rat and crunched it, green maggot guts spewing into the air, before "swallowing" the destroyed maggot and leaving the insect's remains to dangle through its rib cage.

Danny couldn't take it anymore. He screamed. He was on his feet faster than he knew possible, dashing out of the room.

He froze. _Crap! _Standing before him was a rat of monstrous proportions. Its half-dead body stretched from wall to wall. Danny's eyes widened. Incisors the size of large dogs glittered inches from his nose. With a motion quicker than anybody would have dreamed possible, the rat king swallowed Danny whole.

"Half-dead freak," the lady's dead voice echoed through his head as Danny closed his eyes, willing the nightmare to end. "Disease. You are not better than the rats that haunt you." Suddenly she was there, behind his screwed-shut eyelids, holding her green candle in her hands, her malicious grin not reaching her dead eyes.

He took a deep breath, ignoring the horrible smell of the rat king's rotting insides. Another scream raced out of his throat as he backed away from her, pressing up against the rat's hard ribs. "No!"

His arm began to burn. He scratched at it distantly, his eyes refusing to leave the dark recesses of the green-dressed lady's face. The smoldering pain quickly engulfed his arm and invaded his chest. Within a heartbeat, the sharp prickling had spread through his entire body, snapping at his brain.

The emerald flame grew brighter and brighter, forcing Danny to turn away. The lady's haunted voice echoed in his ears, slowly trailing off. "Run, vermin. I am coming for you…"

Danny struggled against the light, against the horde of rats. His whole body felt like it had been put through a food processor – he had aches in places he couldn't remember having before – and he was exhausted. The burning pain of his arm was fading away, the panic of his nightmare fading to a dim memory.

_Why is the light so bright? _A groan escaped from his lips. _Turn it off…_

Very abruptly, he knew the rats had been a dream. He was now awake, lying on a bed; the annoying light wasn't from an evil candle, it was a light bulb glowing in the ceiling. He moaned again, still aching, stretching his arms and legs slightly. Everything hurt, but it was a distant ache. Something was dulling the sharp edge of the pain.

The edge of the bed depressed as something heavy dropped next to him. A warm hand pressed itself against his forehead and another grabbed his hand. Danny let his eyes open slowly, the whole world blurry. Something vaguely flesh-toned was hovering in his view.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the face came into focus. The eyes were staring at him, tears building up inside them. A smile was growing across the face. Danny felt his mouth twitch in response. He blinked – it seemed to take forever – before he tried to speak.

He only got out one word. "Mom?"

His mother burst into tears and wrapped her son up in a hug. "My boy, my baby boy," she whispered shakily. "I love you so much."

**_To be continued..._**


	11. Nights

_The shadows tremble in fear at the light that sweeps through the sky._

* * *

**Shadows  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 11: Nights

* * *

Danny's eyes drifted open and he suppressed a soft moan. Letting his head fall to the side, he glanced at the soft green glow of the clock by his side. _Almost three in the morning_, he thought. He struggled to sit up, his trembling arms barely able to support his weight. Finally his back was cushioned by the hospital's pillow and his shoulders were able to lean heavily against the back of the bed.

He let his eyes close for a moment, panting from the marathon effort of sitting up. A small smile glided onto his lips, proud of this small achievement.

Sapphire eyes opened once more, able to survey the room in peace for the first time since he had woken up. Blipping lights and beeping monitors flickered and flashed in the dim light coming from the hallway. His gaze trailed up the IV sticking into his thin arm, eyes narrowing suspiciously at the slight green glow the liquid was giving off. _What kind of IV fluid glows in the dark?_

After a moment, he shook his head, biting his lip at the wave of dizziness that flooded through him at the movement. _I don't really care_, he sighed. _Think about it later… but for now…_

Continuing to catalog the room, his head twisted around to the small hospital window. Thin curtains covered the glass, but the bright light of a waning crescent moon shone easily through them.

_It's impossible to believe_. He gazed at the glow of the moon, his thoughts peaceful. _It's been over a week since that night._ A shiver swirled through him. _Four days. I was 'missing' for four days… where was I? That blackness… the place with the memories… that didn't last for four days… _

_And then five days unconscious. Nine days since the full moon…_

He wrenched his gaze away from the window, tossing his millions of questions and worries into the back of his mind. _It feels like it happened yesterday. Give it time._ A quiet chuckle slid out of him. Jazz would most be trying to get him to 'talk about his feelings' bright and early tomorrow. _It's not worth worrying about until then._

Pushing the last of his thoughts into the shadows of his brain, he let his eyes wander around the room again. Near the foot of his bed, a slim figure in a bluish jumpsuit slept in a small chair, her arms crossed and placed on his bed, her head cushioned by her arms. _Mom,_ he thought happily.

They hadn't had a chance to talk yet. He had fallen back asleep in her arms only minutes after waking up. He could remember her comforting arms around him, whispering in his ear. She hadn't asked any questions, but there had to be so many in her head. Danny knew there were so many in _his_ head.

A sharp snort drifted through the room, followed quickly by a soft muttering about ghosts. Turning his head, a grin already on his face, Danny took in the bulky form of his father. His father was curled up on the floor, a tiny plushy toy wrapped in his muscular arms. Another memory floated into his brain. His dad had been there when he woke up too. Mom had been hugging him, but Dad had just been standing there like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing silently.

His father's silence was okay. The look in the large man's eyes and the tears streaming down his cheeks had spoken for him. He hadn't needed words.

The biggest surprise of the room was its final occupant – a teenage girl curled up on the other hospital bed. _I always thought Jazz would be too smart to sleep at a hospital_. He stared at her, smiling happily. When their father had cracked his skull during an experiment, she had been steadfast in her desire to not stay overnight with him. _There's no point,_ she argued, _we'll come back in the morning. He'll be asleep and we can be comfortable!_

Yet here she was, staying overnight with him. "Love you too, Jazz," he whispered. He focused on each of his family members one last time, a steady glow filling his head.

Suddenly he yawned, tiredly sinking back down into his bed. As soon as his head touched the pillow, his eyes closed, his mind slowing its perpetual whirling. Sure, there were things that needed explaining, problems that needed working out, questions that needed answering. But he knew, for the first time, he _knew_ that his parents would accept him.

It wasn't the sour feeling that had accompanied the feeling when Dan had told them who he was. It wasn't the trembling, half-scared, uncontrollable feeling of the incident with Freakshow and the reality gauntlet. This was a tranquil numbness that stretched from the bottom of his stomach to the farthest corners of his mind.

They accepted him for what he was – not because he was their son, but because of _who_ he was deep down inside. There was no chance they would fear him, or turn on him, or experiment on him.

As he drifted back off to sleep, he reveled in the peaceful state of his mind.

Rats didn't chase him through endless hallways.

Dead voices and circles of candles didn't haunt his footsteps.

For tonight, he was happy.

**_To be continued..._**


	12. Prison

_Do not discount the shadows merely becuase the sun is shining!_

* * *

**Shadows**  
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

Chapter 12: Prison

* * *

In a cell not too far from the hospital, a woman sat, staring into a prison mirror. Her normally beautiful curls were limp and disheveled. She snarled softly, her roommate flinching away from the malice in the woman's voice. "Stupid ghost. He ruined _everything!_"

Curling her manicured fingernails into her soft palms, Jessica Oscura threw herself to her feet, pacing back and forth in the room. "I have _not_ failed. My idiot brother was _not_ correct. I will _not_ be upstaged by a ghost!"

Her quick, powerful mind filtered back through the events of the past two weeks. It settled on two images, her feet pausing mid-step. Hesitantly, her foot dropped to the ground, her mouth twitching into a frown. "Is it possible?" she wondered.

In her mind, a picture of the lit green candle flickered. She had finished the ceremony, that much she knew. According to legend, the candle would not go out until the ritual was complete or the candle burned itself out. Not rain, nor wind, nor lack of air would put the emerald flame out.

But yet, when she had been shaken awake by the police officers after that _child_ attacked, she could clearly remember the flame having been snuffed out.

Deep in thought, she wandered back to her cot, settling down on the starched sheets. "How can it be?" she whispered. "It would take two lives, two souls…" She laid back, closing her eyes.

For the longest time, the only sounds were Jessica's soft breathing and the shuffle of her roommate's deck of playing cards.

Suddenly, her eyes flashed open. "Of course," she breathed. "I had it wrong. _Two_ deaths…"

"Guard!" she screeched, racing across the cell to poke her hand out between the bars of her cell. "Guard!"

"What?" he snapped, letting his newspaper drop to his knees as he glared at her.

"May I have your paper when you are finished with it? Please?" she smiled, batting her eyes. "I would like to keep up on current events."

After a moment, the guard simply nodded.

Grinning happily, Jessica Oscura turned around to wait. Her family was nothing if not patient, and she was no exception. Especially now that she knew that her plans weren't as derailed as she had feared.

**_The end._**


	13. Light Preview

_Come out of the shadows, my friends, and dance in the light of the moon._

* * *

**Light  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

* * *

A huge chunk of the story is _still_ missing. Burning questions _still _need to be answered.

Maddie and Danny were lost for days. But… how did they get captured in the first place? Just who was that evil lady and why did she kidnap them? Follow Jazz, Jack, Sam and Tucker as they relate the story of what _really_ happened that fateful day when their quiet world was torn apart.

Stay with us as we chart the next piece of the saga. Following **Darkness **and **Shadows** comes **Light**, a chilling tale of loved ones lost - a story that begins at the end, taking us full circle and ending back at the beginning. For, as you all know, after the light, the dark must once again reign supreme.

_Catch the saga... _Read **Light** next!


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